This invention relates to safety hunting garments to be worn by hunters while hunting or in a hunting environment. More particularly the present invention relates to a hunter's garment whether it be a hat, jacket, trousers or coveralls that provide the hunter with a high degree of safety, efficiency and convenience without interfering in any undesirable manner with the hunting technique or the hunter's ability to engage in hunting activities.
This invention relates to safety garments for hunters when hunting any animal species so as to provide for their safety because it is recognized that more and more hunters are entering the field of hunting for any species. This massive influx of new and possibly inexperienced hunters causes more injuries due perhaps to mistaken perceptions by the hunters that cause the hunters to wound and kill fellow hunters or others in range of their shot.
The safety problem is particularly of concern amongst turkey hunters primarily for the reason that it is believed by many, if not most all turkey hunters, that turkeys have such incredible eyesight that is so acute as to be able to detect various colors, and particularly would be capable of detecting the presence on any hunter of the typical fluorescent orange, Hunter's orange, coloring used by hunters to make their presence known to other hunters. Most turkey hunters therefore believe, whether it is true or not, that the wearing of the Hunter's orange would be easily detected by the turkey and would chase the turkey out of shot range.
Whatever the reason, the number of accidents amongst turkey hunters has increased to such a great extent in the last two decades that it has come to the attention of government officials particularly at the state level. To date, there are no requirements for turkey hunters to wear Hunter's orange during all of the turkey seasons but the problem is becoming more serious in view of the number influx of turkey hunters coming into the field, which will produce only more accidents given the current clothing worn by the hunters.
Mistaken identity that causes the hunter to fire is given as the primary cause of all accidents during turkey hunting. The hunter causing the accident typically shoots upon hearing a sound without waiting a sufficient time to identify the target. It is obvious to hunters that to avoid such accidents, they must be more patient and more careful while exercising more discipline in order to make certain that the target at which they are firing is a valid and legal target.
It also would seem to be an obvious solution for the hunter to aid himself in avoiding being an unintentional target by using the Hunter's orange liberally on his body garments so that the shooter would be able to identify his intended target as human. However, such liberal use of the Hunter's orange, in the mind of many hunters, interferes with effective hunting by giving advance warning of the hunter's presence to the turkey. On the contrary, the hunter typically believes that it is necessary for him to camouflage his presence by the use of carefully chosen camouflage clothing to cover all exposed parts and to use the Hunter's orange only when moving to a new position. Such changes from the Hunter's orange to camouflage or vice versa requires time and is often overlooked or disregarded by the hunter leaving open the possibility for an accident to occur.
In the past, there were hunting garments that attempted to provide some safety features. Included in this group would be, for instance, the Shingler U.S. Pat. No. 3,381,307 that discloses the utilization of a flap that may be concealed or exposed on a hunting jacket. This construction of the jacket would require the jacket or other garment to be removed so that the changes can be made to expose or conceal the flap when positioned in the rear of the garment and thus would not be a suitable arrangement.
Another concept that had been used frequently is disclosed in the Speh Patent U.S. Pat. No. 1,773,442 wherein a reversible hunting coat is disclosed having one side with camouflage and an inner coat lining with a red or other more highly visible material. Again such a coat requires removal for effective use.